I have been to Singapore twice in my life. Two years ago my husband and I took our 3 kids to Singapore for a holiday for a week and again I was back there last week on a work trip that was hosted by Scoot, Accor and Club Med.

Singapore is a fantastic country to go to if you are thinking of taking your children overseas for the first time. My reasons for saying this are you don’t have to get any immunisations, it is very safe and clean, easy to get around, the water and food is not as big of an issue as other asian countries, it has great hospital and medical facilities if someone does get sick and packs in lots of culture and interesting places without having to travel long distances.

I only spent 2 days in Singapore on my recent stopover and we still managed to do so much.

If you love the idea of travelling overseas but think you can’t afford it because airfares are so expensive then you need to know about Scoot. My hubby and I love to travel and since having 3 kids taking 5 people overseas can be quite expensive. A friend of mine a few years ago mentioned Scoot to me and I have never looked back.

They are Singapore Airlines budget airline carrier and operate to more than 60 destinations. I personally think they are great and have had no complaints flying with them on a number of occassions! From memory I paid around $219 per person per flight return to Singapore a few years ago during school holidays for our family of 5. I am pretty sure the flights were cheaper than going to Melbourne. I did buy them during a sale and from then on I have been a convert. Their fleet are all new 787 dream liners so are modern and new, just without any frills. You pay a bit extra for food, baggage and entertainment or you can go without, it’s your choice. I took this photo below of their coloured light cabins because I thought it was pretty awesome.

During our time in Singapore we stayed at the Ibis Bencoolen. It was located in a really central part of Singapore with lots to see and do in walking distance from the hotel.

For those who are passionate about the environment the Ibis Bencoolen have managed to get rid of ALL PVC plastic from the entire hotel. They provide refillable glass bottles for water … paper straws and pens made from recycled newspaper which I thought was pretty fantastic!

In some of the room packages they also provide you with a mobile phone you can use for free to call anywhere within Singapore and internationally as well as use it as a hotspot for data if you are needing to get on the internet. This is completely free and an awesome service to their patrons.

There is so much to do in Singapore for free. Below are some of the things we did in our 48 hour stopover in Singapore that didn’t cost us anything except for food and drinks if we decided to eat.

Gardens By the Bay – Is an amazing gardens that has a free show every night at 7:45pm and 8:45pm which is a bucket list must for anyone.

Marina Bay Sands – Is an amazing hotel and quite the site to be seen. It is billed as the world’s most expensive standalone casino property at $8 billion Singapore dollars. It is the backdrop to Garden’s By the Bay at night and worth seeing at least once in your life.

Haji Lane – Is a great little laneway with fabulous shops and food and worth a visit. It is filled with independent fashion boutiques and Middle Eastern cafes

Raffles Hotel – Raffles is famous for the Singapore Sling which was the first cocktail created by a man to look like fruit juice so he could serve women alcohol without the men knowing haha. Such an awesome story! Obviously your children wouldn’t have a cocktail but it is a beautiful place to visit and have a look around.

Little India – Is a fantastic pocket of all things India in Singapore. It is where the ethnic Indian immigrants resided when they originally came to India. I have been to India before and I thought this was really a little India in the middle of Singapore and well worth the visit.

Dumplings And Glorious Food – There is some seriously yummy food in Singapore which you can get for as little at $6. We indulged in some Din Tai Fung dumplings which are a must and spent a very pleasant evening at Satay By The Bay food market which is situated within walking distance of Gardens By The Bay. There are hawker food markets everywhere in Singapore so if you are travelling on a budget you can get great food very cheap.

This was a very quick 48 hour stopover on our way back from the Maldives. If you want to know more about what you can get up to in Singapore with your family then check out our blog post on the Singapore Zoo here and Sentosa here.

Another thing to note is if you are keen to convince hubby that a holiday is Singapore is a great idea then it might be worth mentioning they host the Formula 1 which if from the 15 September to 17 September this year. It was being setup while we were on our stopover and it looked like quite a big deal for car lovers.